Busia schools have for the third year running failed to register a single A grade in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination. The last time schools from the County registered As was in the 2015 KCSE. Since then the As have proved elusive in the County even with 315 As recorded in the 2018 KCSE results that were released by Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed.
Sigalame led with four students getting A-, Butula had three students scoring A-, Nambale had two students with A- while Kolanya Girls, Moding, Fr Okodoi and Bumala AC had one student each registering A-.
Butula produced the best boy in the County, Dindy Bamwel Odhiambo who scored an A- of 79 points. He was followed in second place by Felix Wandera Ojiambo of Sigalame Boys with 78 points and Abner Dlamini Khuzwayo of Nambale Boys with 77 points. Sylvia Barasa of Kolanya Girls is the top girl in the county with 74 points. Small schools outshone the giants in quality grades. Omonya Samuel Ebela of Fr Okodoi Secondary in Teso South scored an A- of 75 points.
The most improved student in the County is Okumu Oketch Stephen from Bumala AC who registered an A- of 75 points. He joined form one with 325 marks, thus emerging number 82 in the country with improvement index of 34.227.
Kamau Josphat Mwangi from Mioro Secondary School emerged the most improved student in relation to his KCPE performance. He scored an A- with improvement index of 79.466, having joined form one with 278 marks in KCPE.
Kenya National Union of Teachers Teso Branch Deputy Secretary General Olung’a Ekwenye exonerated teachers over failure by schools in the County to register a single A for the last three years.
“Teachers are putting their best but laxity among students is the cause of this failure to realize quality grades. Education stakeholders need to sit down and ascertain why quality grades have become elusive since 2016,” he said.
The failure by Busia County Schools to register a single A in 2017 KCSE upset former vice chairman of the Electoral Commission of Kenya Gabriel Mukele.
“Busia has the best brains in the country including surgeons and academicians. With the best brains retiring who will take over the mantle?” he asked.
Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong introduced laptops for all students who scored As in 2014 KCSE. No award has been given since 2016 because no student has scored a straight A.
The best performance was recorded in 2013 when the county produced 15As with Butula leading with 8As. The number of As reduced to 11 in 2014 and 3As in 2015.